Didipio plant about to start refining

Oceana Gold's gold and copper mining project in the northern
Philippines - costing $US247 million ($NZ300.8 million) when
completed - is about to move from development to production
in coming weeks as ore is introduced into the refining
process.

Chief executive Mick Wilkes said the commissioning of the
Didipio plant was proceeding to plan and within time frame,
with rock introduced to the milling system and other plant
units being commissioned.

"We expect to be producing copper-gold concentrate in the
coming weeks. It's a great result," Mr Wilkes said in a
market update yesterday.

For its third-quarter results, Oceana's crucial cash costs to
produce each ounce of gold in New Zealand remained beyond
$US1000 at $US1081, but once in full Philippine production,
it has been estimated Didipio's gold and copper equivalents
will dilute overall production cash costs to possibly
$US600/oz.

Full 2012 calendar year production was recently downgraded
slightly to the lower end of 225,000-230,000oz from New
Zealand operations in Macraes in East Otago and Reefton on
the West Coast, but Oceana expects higher grades from its
open pits would contribute to a "strong finish" for the
full-year.